Out Of Place Animals

[GNC]

Wait a minute - someone is manufacturing fake leg bands for pigeons? Is this the most niche crime ever?!

 

[EnolaGaia]

Update ...
Australian authorities have concluded (pigeon) Joe's leg band was a fake, and they've discontinued their attempt to capture and kill him.

Australia’s Agriculture Department, which is responsible for biosecurity, agreed that the pigeon dubbed Joe, after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, was wearing a “fraudulent copy” leg band.

“Following an investigation, the department has concluded that Joe the Pigeon is highly likely to be Australian and does not present a biosecurity risk,” it said in a statement.

The department said it will take no further action.

https://apnews.com/article/australia-joe-the-pigeon-faae5a66c336c8b2dc902b1ed4270345

 

[Souleater]

I remembered this article from during the first lockdown.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-wales-52103967

 

[Souleater]

I was living in Surrey a few years ago and shortly after i moved i was suprised to see a flock of ringnecked parakeets flying over head every night going to roost in trees by the Thames, i read up and found out thereis quite a few colonies of them, variously reported to have come from, Jimi Hendrix and the film studio after the filming of 'The African Queen, but no concrete proof of either story, also there are reports of sightings out dating both incidents.

 

[IbisNibs]

Ruh-roh ... The pigeon called Joe somehow traversed the Pacific to get from the USA to Australia, and now Australia wants to capture and kill him.

That's what they tried to do to Johnny Depp.

That's correct. Mr. Depp was wearing a fake leg band, so the Australian authorities tried to capture and kill him.
Good thing he got away!

 

[uair01]

 

[Kondoru]

Yup, that has a certain fableistic quality.

 

[hunck]

Man fined £5,000 after neighbours spot wildcat he kept as pet in window

James Brown, 36, bought the animal from a Russian company without a licence so was convicted under the Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) Act and ordered to pay a total of £5,000.

Neighbours in Balham, south London, alerted the authorities when they saw the cat sitting at the window and feared she may attack their own pets.

Wandsworth Council were also tipped off when Brown emailed the town hall to ask about getting a licence under the DWA Act.

When contacted by officers, Brown said he no longer owned the serval and insisted he was moving to Lambeth, the council said.

Nothing more was heard for six months until another member of the public complained about seeing a wildcat sitting at the window of a property in Roehampton, south-west London.

Animal welfare officers and police visited and questioned Brown, who at that stage insisted the cat was not a serval but another species of less dangerous wildcat.

The animal was removed and rehoused at a specialist wildlife facility.

In 2019, Brown said he was actively trying to get a licence and claimed he only agreed to look after the serval after its previous owner struggled to care for it.

These claims were undermined by Brown’s glowing Facebook endorsements of the Russian company he purchased the cat from, the council said yesterday.

Checks showed a microchip found in her neck had been issued to a company in Russia.

Brown did not turn up for taped interviews with council investigators and did not answer a summons to appear in court. He was charged with keeping a dangerous wild animal without a licence, and convicted in his absence.

He was fined £1,000, ordered to pay £4,000 in prosecution costs and a £181 victim surcharge, and banned from owning any wild animals for two years.

 

[Sharon Hill]

Man fined £5,000 after neighbours spot wildcat he kept as pet in window

James Brown, 36, bought the animal from a Russian company without a licence so was convicted under the Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) Act and ordered to pay a total of £5,000.

This reminds me of the time I had a cat and didn't tell my landlord. It's impossible to convey to an animal not to reveal itself this way. They love windows. Luckily, I never got in trouble for it.

 

[Mr Spagooter]

Around 10 years ago, while taking a bus from Chipping Norton to Witney during the day, I was somewhat surprised to glance across a field and spot a solitary wallaby near a tree line. After a double and a triple take, I realised it was actually there and I was witnessing this!! I have heard of some wild colonies of them present in the UK, but none in the Oxfordshire area to my knowledge.

Surreal!

 

[Souleater]

Around 10 years ago, while taking a bus from Chipping Norton to Witney during the day, I was somewhat surprised to glance across a field and spot a solitary wallaby near a tree line. After a double and a triple take, I realised it was actually there and I was witnessing this!! I have heard of some wild colonies of them present in the UK, but none in the Oxfordshire area to my knowledge.

Surreal!

From google:
"It's probably a cliché, but you expect to see wallabies in Australia, not Oxfordshire." According to John Gillespie, they have been seen since the early to mid 1970s around the Henley/Nettlebed area "with a few being run over up and down the Bix dual carriage way".31 Aug 2017

From 'The (uh huumm) Sun:
STREUTH! Villagers say Oxfordshire town is being overrun by growing population of WALLABIES

Brian Lockyer, from Didcot, was on his early morning drive into work in Tetsworth when a wallaby jumped out of the hedge ahead of him.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16519...g-overrun-by-growing-population-of-wallabies/

 

[maximus otter]

Around 10 years ago, while taking a bus from Chipping Norton to Witney during the day, I was somewhat surprised to glance across a field and spot a solitary wallaby near a tree line. After a double and a triple take, I realised it was actually there and I was witnessing this!! I have heard of some wild colonies of them present in the UK, but none in the Oxfordshire area to my knowledge.

Surreal!

Like chicken pigeon, apparently.

Just sayin’...



maximus otter

 

[Souleater]

Like chicken pigeon, apparently.

Just sayin’...



maximus otter

Kangeroo is very tasty, much more preferable than alligator.

 

[ramonmercado]

A giant walrus who washed up on the south coast of Ireland isn’t the first to breach our shores.

The walrus, who washed up in Valentia Island on Sunday, captured the imagination of the nation but back in 1930 a similar report appeared in this publication.

‘Walrus washed ashore’ reads the headline from the Irish Examiner archive on a story published on October 17, 1930. The walrus “measuring about six feet from tip to tip” washed up in Berehaven.nSadly, however, this walrus “had one of its tusks broken off, and was dead apparently for about a fortnight. Some people reported that the walrus had made Dursey Sound “its headquarters a couple of years ago”.

While rare, a number of walrus sightings have been reported in Ireland over the years. In 1987, one was reported on the Shannon, while in 1999, another was reported to have been spotted in Co Mayo.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40244516.html

 

[EnolaGaia]

Walrus in Wales! It's unclear whether this latest sighting is of the same walrus seen in Ireland circa 5 days ago.

Walrus spotted in Wales, days after one seen off Ireland

A walrus has been spotted at the bottom of a Welsh cliff, just days after one was seen off the coast of Ireland.

The creature was seen near Broad Haven South beach, Pembrokshire, on Friday before it managed to get back into the sea.

It is thought the animal may have been the same one that was seen off the County Kerry coast.

Cleopatra Browne of Welsh Marine Life Rescue was called to the scene where the walrus was "sat there, chilling".

"It was about the size of a cow," said the 42-year-old, of St Davids, Pembrokeshire.

"It was a whopper. I've seen them on telly and the news but it was huge." ...

FULL STORY:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-56470235

EARLIER SIGHTING OFF IRELAND:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56404484

 

[maximus otter]

Someone in Cromer is on the phone:

“Oi, Parcelforce! Where’s the ****ing walrus l ordered last week? Your site says it’s ‘Out for delivery’! “

maximus otter

 

[maximus otter]

Massive ‘blob’ on South Carolina beach is really a jellyfish

A “mammoth” jellyfish was found on a South Carolina beach earlier this month, and widely shared photos of it sprawled out like a gooey throw rug have shaken ocean lovers.

“Big” for stinging jellyfish in South Carolina is about 20 inches, but the one photographed by Fannie “Gee” Giuliano of Myrtle Beach “was several feet wide,” she told McClatchy News.

It washed up March 9, not far from the 125-acre Myrtle Beach Travel Park, a popular coastal campground.

The jellyfish’s exact species hasn’t been declared, but there is speculation it could be an invasive species known as the Australian spotted jellyfish.

“Researchers have found one with a 28 inch bell diameter off of the coast of North Carolina,” the Texas Invasive Species Institute reports.

https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/state/south-carolina/article250027144.html

maximus otter

 

[Trevp666]

"Rhea birds running wild on Hertfordshire housing estate"

Several rhea birds that have been running around a housing estate (...) at Maple Cross, close to the M25, Hertfordshire Police said.
(...) had tried to identify owners, but concluded the flightless birds were effectively wild.

All rather strange. They must have been somewhere before they started running around in Maple Cross (not exactly rural).
I don't think they would be good as pets, so that leaves farming (unlikely they would be farmed, and if they were then I expect they would be reported as missing), or at a stretch, escapees from some kind of private zoo?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-56535979

 

[Mythopoeika]

"Rhea birds running wild on Hertfordshire housing estate"

Several rhea birds that have been running around a housing estate (...) at Maple Cross, close to the M25, Hertfordshire Police said.
(...) had tried to identify owners, but concluded the flightless birds were effectively wild.

All rather strange. They must have been somewhere before they started running around in Maple Cross (not exactly rural).
I don't think they would be good as pets, so that leaves farming (unlikely they would be farmed, and if they were then I expect they would be reported as missing), or at a stretch, escapees from some kind of private zoo?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-56535979

I was going to make a quip about dire rheas, but it would probably sound forced.

 

[IbisNibs]

No, but we might force you to pay for the pun somehow.

 

[WeeScottishLassie]

Wasn't sure where to put this so settled for here as a rampaging big bird goes on the loose!!

https://news.sky.com/story/dog-walk...-rampage-around-herts-housing-estate-12257577

 

[Mythopoeika]

Wasn't sure where to put this so settled for here as a rampaging big bird goes on the loose!!

https://news.sky.com/story/dog-walk...-rampage-around-herts-housing-estate-12257577

Already posted... see above.

 

[WeeScottishLassie]

Already posted... see above.

Yes, I had originally put it in the WTF thread but the mods must have moved it

 

[hunck]

Many of the reports say it's a group & "up to 20" of them running wild but I've yet to see more than one pictured..

Rheas on the loose have to be named Chris by default.

 

[uair01]

 

[uair01]

There are many more examples in the comments to this tweet:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1376084811421454337

 

[Trevp666]

Geese 'invade' football pitch.
"We shall have to add some 'duck time' to this match..."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/56632543

 

[cycleboy2]

Geese 'invade' football pitch.
"We shall have to add some 'duck time' to this match..."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/56632543

But was it Goose Grobbelaar? Andy Greylag? Goosy Bronze? Darren Ganderson? Emre Canada goose? Etc...!

 

[Trevp666]

I'm not sure but I think one of them committed a fowl.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

An alligator in Arizona

Back in the 1980’s, I lived near the Huachuca mountains, which are in Cochise county, southern Arizona, on the border with Mexico. This is mainly open cattle grazing land, miles of grass, small oak trees, and the occasional small stream. Beautiful country. I was a witness to this event.

For a few years, locals were reporting dogs disappearing near a small creek which had a deep hole in it which did not dry out in the summer. The children (and drunk cowboys) would use it as a swimming hole. The kids started telling their parents about a monster which lived in the hole. The parents laughed it off – until a cowboy managed to get a blurry photograph of the monster. It was published in the local paper. There really was a monster! The county sheriff phoned the Phoenix zoo to come out and take a look. The zoo rep identified it as an alligator. This identification was also published in the local paper. That is when the fun started.

First, the children were banned from swimming in the hole. The cowboys competed with each other to photograph it again (successful), bait it and catch in traps (unsuccessful), shoot and kill it (unsuccessful), and lasso it and drag it out (ultimately successful). This took some weeks, and the place was unsafe from all the cowboys competing with each other to catch the monster. Everyone was tremendously excited.

The Phoenix zoo agreed to take the alligator and ran a state-wide contest for the children to name it. The winning name was either Cochise or Geronimo, both Apaches from the area who waged war on the whites. I’m afraid I don’t remember which it was.

In the US, one could buy small 12 inch alligators as pets. My husband had one when he was a boy. The zoo rep conjectured that a pet alligator had either been released or had escaped from some local household many years ago, and that the family had probably thought it had died in such dry terrain. The alligator had made its way to the only standing water for miles, and had thrived there. As it got bigger, it graduated from eating fish and birds to dogs and rabbits. It was seven feet long when it finally was caught. This was big enough to really hurt a child, if not kill him. After the alligator was in the alligator habitat at the zoo, I went to see it. It was amazing to think of this animal living for years or decades in such dry country. It certainly seemed to have a satisfied smile.